Famed French director Luc Besson is said to be extremely angry with the extensive media coverage of the filming of his new movie Lucy in downtown Taipei, local media reported yesterday.
Although a number of measures have been taken to keep the media away, television camera crews still managed to shoot footage of Besson, his crew and the star of Lucy, actress Scarlett Johansson, working through various scenes of the movie.
Several local TV stations have taken turns broadcasting video of Besson directing shots and scenes outside the Regent Taipei hotel the past couple of days, and print media have given extensive coverage to details of the filmmaking process.
“Besson’s mood has been seriously affected by all of these unauthorized reports,” the Chinese-language China Times quoted an unidentified source as saying.
Besson is best known for his 1997 movie The Fifth Element. His latest works include The Lady and the Taken series.
Security was tightened at the Regent entrance on Tuesday, with a huge black drape erected and a Japanese-style paper door set up to shield the filming process and the director’s monitor from media scrutiny.
One of the crew’s security guards also pointed green laser beams at journalists’ faces, cameras and mobile phones to deter them from getting closer and taking pictures.
The Chinese-language United Daily News said that despite the media disturbances, the filming of gunfight scenes proceeded smoothly at the Regent on Tuesday from 5am to about 5pm.
The film’s cast also includes Lee Chun (李淳), one of the sons of Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安), the daily said.
The action movie Lucy is reportedly about a woman, played by Johansson, working in Taiwan as a drug mule, who gains supernatural abilities and becomes a fighting machine.
In sharp contrast to Lucy, the filming of Lee’s movie Life of Pi in Greater Taichung took place with very few outside distractions from the often freewheeling media.
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